Dec. 2, 2012

Written by

Jason Riley

The Courier-Journal

Sterling

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On April 14, 2010, at 4 a.m., Jason Sterling was driving down the middle of Goldsmith Lane, straddling the center yellow line, for about a half-mile before police pulled him over.

Louisville Metro Police Officer James Martin said Sterling admitted he had been drinking, failed a field sobriety test and had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, according to court testimony.

“This defendant was definitely under the influence of alcohol,” Martin testified at a trial on March 24, 2011.

But after prosecutors presented evidence that Sterling blew a 0.156, nearly twice the legal limit, District Court Judge Donald Armstrong told Sterling’s attorney he needn’t bother putting on his defense and handed down a verdict of not guilty.

Armstrong ruled that police had no reason to stop Sterling in the first place, because “I can't find any statute in the state of Kentucky that says you can't straddle a yellow line.”

In a recent interview, Jefferson County Attorney Michael O’Connell said of the ruling, “that’s why they have paint on those lines, and an officer observing someone driving erratically, in my opinion, clearly has reasonable grounds to make a stop. ... There is a yellow line to keep cars from crossing and running into each other.”

O’Connell acknowledged his office didn’t appeal, saying his lawyers can’t “run up to the Supreme Court every time we get an adverse ruling.”

Sterling could not be reached for comment, but his, attorney, Paul Gold, said that just because officers testified about a high blood-alcohol level and failed sobriety test, “doesn’t mean it’s true.”